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December 7, 2001
MILAN, Italy -- Italian police on Thursday raided six companies suspected of links to Islamic militants, part of a weeklong crackdown on money that may be destined for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
Thursday's searches were a followup to raids Monday on a dozen companies in the Milan area suspected of using false invoices to hide money transfers for the al-Qaida organization.
Investigators suspect the companies searched Thursday around the northern city of Varese had ties with Italy-based militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida.
This week, a Milan prosecutor asked a court to indict seven alleged members of an al-Qaida cell on charges of criminal association, supplying false documents and seeking to obtain and transport arms, explosives and chemicals.
All seven are Tunisians.
Among them is Essid Sami Ben Khemais, suspected of being the head of bin Laden's terrorist operation in Europe.
Ben Khemais, who was arrested in April, has been linked to an attack that had been planned for January on the U.S. Embassy in Rome and is believed to have met this year in Spain with suicide hijacker Mohammed Atta.
Since the attacks on the United States, authorities have increased surveillance of what government minister Franco Frattini calls epicenters of Islamic extremism in Italy. They have raided mosques, made arrests and confiscated materials at offices and companies across Italy.